Norman Rockwell exhibit opens in Texas

His paintings shaped the BSA’s image in America for more than 60 years, and his art continues to paint a picture of Scouting’s history to this day.

"On to Washington," 1933.

Take a fresh look at the work of Rockwell and other prominent illustrators who helped show Scouting to the country by visiting the all-new “Norman Rockwell and the Art of Scouting” exhibit, now open at the National Scouting Museum in Irving, Tex.

Head to the National Scouting Museum and check it out. (Psst: Don’t forget that admission is free on Sundays and Mondays!)

The Scouting Museum, which opened at its current home in 2002, houses the world’s largest collection of Scouting artwork by Rockwell, who joined Boys’ Life magazine as a staff artist in 1912.

"Red Cross Man in the Making (A Good Scout)," 1918

In 1925, along with the Brown & Bigelow calendar company, Rockwell published the first of 50 Boy Scout calendars. His last calendar, The Spirit of 1976, came out to celebrate the nation’s bicentennial.

A year later, Rockwell received the Presidential Medal of Freedom — the nation’s highest civilian honor — from President (and Eagle Scout) Gerald Ford.

It was then that Rockwell passed the reins of “official BSA artist” to Joseph Csatari, who still holds that role today.

Rockwell died at his Massachusetts home in 1978. He was 84.

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UPDATE 4:10 p.m. 01/10/12: A reader on Facebook asked how long the exhibit will be on display. Corry Kanzenberg, curator at the museum, answered: “The exhibition is a long-term reinstallation of our permanent collection and will be on view for three to five years, but objects will be added and rotated periodically throughout that period.”

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I think it’s great that Norman Rockwell has an exhibit at the National Museum.
Though there has been a perminute exhibit since the begining.

What the National Museum should make a priority, is to make access possible to as many Scouts and Scouters as possible. And I am not talking about the locals in the Texas area.

The fact is the majority of Scouts will never be able to visit the museum, ever.
In the past, those scouts has to settle for those rare traveling exhibits that National would send out every decade or so (even then, the access was limited to those areas it visited).

The answer is to develop a true virtual tour of the museum.

The tech is available, the cost is not impossible, the need is there.

So, instead of having local events at the museum that benifit only the local few, how about having an online access tour that would show the entire collection as well as the interactive areas (stories, movies, ect.).

This would benifit all of Scouting, as well as those thinking about joining and those who are retired.

Excellent suggestion, Ron – I know that somewhere in this vast array of volunteers there is someone with the expertise to do this – if someone in Dallas/Fort Worth could take the photos, not only of the pictures but also the exhibits, then the development of a virtual tour could be done remotely.

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Bryan on Scouting is the official blog of Scouting magazine, a Boy Scouts of America publication. Scouting magazine is published five times a year and is received by 1 million registered adult volunteers.